Stutzman finally has his shot at a world para title

On an emotional day for Matt Stutzman, the ‘Armless Archer’ finally took the step up at the world championships. He’ll shoot for individual gold in the compound men’s event this Friday in Dubai where he will face newcomer, the Russian Archery Federation’s Aleksandr Gombozhapov.

Gombozhapov, who lost both his arms in an accident in 2003, only took up the sport after seeing YouTube videos of Stutzman in action, who he calls his “hero” and “teacher”.

The afternoon session had started with Stutzman beating Belgium’s Piotr Van Montagu (142-133), the third archer without arms in Dubai in a match which Stutzman had said he had been waiting for his whole life.

And it was dramatic. Needing a 10 to win with his last arrow, the Belgian made a disastrous error, aiming at and hitting another target instead of his own. Matt's victory, building on his impressive recovery in matchplay after such a low seeding due to an equipment failure in qualifying, just seemed inevitable. He’d then go on to beat Matteo Bonacina, Jonathon Milne by shoot-off and lastly Nori Hadi in the semifinals. 

Gombozhapov, meanwhile, defeated Ivan Dziadyk, Sundar Shyam Swami, Rakesh Kumar and Bair Shigaev to set up an historic gold medal encounter.

“I feel like I'm already a winner,” said Stutzman. “To come and go for my first individual world championship gold against another person that calls me a hero or I've inspired to get here… I really don’t really care what happens now – that's pretty powerful.”

“I still want to win but if he wins I will be just as happy for him then I would be myself because that's why we do what we do… inspire people to grow the sport.”

And Stutzman did not underestimate the potential wider implications of the match, albeit with his tongue firmly in cheek.

“It’s going to be awesome, going to go viral,” said the 39-year-old, smiling. “It’s going to be amazing – there’s going to be an ‘Armless Archer’ gold medal match for the first time in the history of the world. How cool is that? Everybody’s going to start shooting with their feet next year.”

In the compound women’s competition, Tokyo 2020 individual bronze medallist Maria Andrea Virgilio will meet Tatiana Andrievskaia in the final after they dispatched the British pair of Paralympic champion Phoebe Paterson Pine and world number one Jessica Stretton in the semifinals. 

Virgilio saw off Pine in a low-scoring match (136-132), while Andrievskaia held her nerve to take a one-point victory (142-141) as Stretton ended with a perfect 30. Pine had earlier beaten the number one seed and reigning titleholder Nur Syahidah Alim in the quarterfinal.

In the team competitions, featuring the new ‘doubles’ format, number one seeds Turkey will face the Russian Archery Federation in the compound women’s final. Australia will face Iran in the men’s gold encounter.

“We hope we will win the gold medal – it will be compensation for all the hard work we have done together with our coaches,” said Iran’s Ramezan Biabani. “We came to Dubai expecting we would do well.”

The Australians had survived an early scare in their opening game, going into their final end against Romania 109-106 down, but four 10s in response to a 34 from their opponents saw a six-point turnaround and them safely through (146-143).

And India could finally get their hands on a first World Archery Para Championship gold medal as they set up a mixed team final against the top seeds from the Russian Archery Federation.

“Dubai has been a happy hunting ground for me [with] three medals in three championships so far,” said India’s Jyoti. “I enjoy playing the mixed team event more as the workload is divided. I know I have a backup if I make a mistake and with Shyam Sundar, we have grown as a team. I hope to make it memorable with a perfect score on Friday.”

Andrievskaia is going to busy on Friday as she will be shooting in all three finals – mixed team, women’s team and women’s individual. 

“I still need to shoot to win the finals,” she said. “But it’s been a really good day today, that’s true. Hopefully, the best day will be after the finals as that’s what we worked hard for.”

Photos courtesy Yayha Essa (Dubai Club for People of Determination).

Quotes courtesy Priyanka Sharma (organising committee) and Antoni Cichy.